Kansas City

Job Creation

In May, we kicked off the Roadshow and visited Kansas City, St. Louis, Elkhart and Chicago. Bus was a hit, companies visited were fascinating, middle market discussion on job creation created some momentum. Overall, it was a big success. Now presenting our Highlights From the Road – Leg 1.

When the recession hit, Mark Weber worried it might slow the growth of his carpet business permanently. Instead, he cut overhead, raised profits, and created a new, streamlined business model more resistant to economic volatility. Hear him tell his own story of middle market success.

Dr. Audrey Kunin used her background in chemistry compounding to develop cutting-edge skincare products previously available only to dermatologists and plastic surgeons. Since 1985, her company has grown from a home office to 900 stores nationwide—but her place in the middle market means capital investments are often scarce.

Greg Gragg’s advertising agency doesn’t have a strict business model. It doesn’t have a firm management structure. And in the past three decades, it’s grown exponentially. Learn how an advertising agency can function like a tech company—and make a profit from it.

Silicon Prairie. It may not be a term you’ve heard yet, or even one you could have imagined. But it’s being applied to Kansas City in the same vein as the Bay Area original. And it’s emblematic of the growth and energy in the area not just in technology but in other industries here as well.

Entrepreneurship can only flourish in a tight-knit, nurturing community of like-minded individuals. This presents a challenge in smaller urban centers such as Kansas City– Can a region more commonly known for its once-mighty manufacturing economy provide the kind of culture needed to produce the next generation of innovators?